This compilation includes Andreas Vollenweider's first three albums, the new composition "Pace Verde," and selections from 1984's Eine Art Suite. While it's Vollenweider's trademark electric harp playing that unifies these songs, the composer features numerous other instruments, including acoustic guitar, accordion, and the ever-present synthesizers. "Trilogy"'s extended intro of hushed voices and shuffling feet gives way to raindrop percussion before a song seems to emerge out of the ether, featuring crisp snare drum and a dreamy melody plucked out on Vollenweider's modified instrument…
Andreas Vollenweider's 1985 effort White Winds, subtitled "Seeker's Journey," features the composer's modified electric harp in pieces that are much more experimental than what would later emerge as the prevailing sound of new age…
Andreas Vollenweider's Book of Roses marries concept to contemporary instrumentalism, and blends the music of numerous cultures into the composer's already worldly sound. Separated into four chapters (where each song is an "episode"), the album chronicles the journey of a young girl from dances in grand ballrooms, through mysterious woods full of magical jugglers, to an eventual meeting with the Sphinx…
While vocals had been deployed as instruments in vintage ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER productions, and he did engage accomplished singers to impart thematic messages on "Eolian Minstrel" and in multiple languages on "Cosmopoly", "Vox" represents the harp players first headlong venture into lead vocals. He actually possesses a pleasant voice suited to his Renaissance gentleman persona and equally dolce musical style…
This album sounds very much like a sequel to his first album "Eine Art Suite" from 1979…
Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider continues his exploration of world fusion on this ambitious, genre-blending release. In addition to the usual presence of Vollenweider's electrified harp, on which he manages to combine the instrument's lush, classical sound with unusual rhythmic effects and uncharacteristic tones, KRYPTOS boasts a range of other instruments, including flutes, synthesizer, human choruses, and a variety of percussion…
Andreas Vollenweider's 1985 effort White Winds, subtitled "Seeker's Journey," features the composer's modified electric harp in pieces that are much more experimental than what would later emerge as the prevailing sound of new age…
After the Grammy-winning 1987 effort Down to the Moon, Andreas Vollenweider returned with Dancing With the Lion, a concept album of sorts about the nature of life and death. For the first time, Vollenweider extended his creative palette, drawing on the talents of many musicians worldwide…
Andreas Vollenweider's Cosmopoly finds the Swiss harpist collaborating with artists like Carlos Nunez, Abdulla Ibrahim, and Ray Anderson, and exploring the music of Africa, Brazil, China, Ireland, and the U.S. Fittingly, Vollenweider's palette of instruments on this album includes the ocarina, gu cheng, baby koto, 12-string guitar, Bavarian folk harp, Celtic harp, and Chinese harp, along with his usual custom-made rhythm harp…
Eolian Minstrel is Andreas Vollenweider's debut SBK Records release and the long awaited followup to his 1991 #1 NAC and jazz album, Book of Roses. Andreas plays a harp, but one that has been modified to produce an extraordinary range of sounds…